The Treat Formerly Known as Trick
by SineTimore
Summary: A bit of present day Castle and Beckett Halloween fun with a callback to season 2.


**Disclaimer: **Borrowed with thanks, as always.

**AN: ** Happy Halloween!

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_**The Treat Formerly Known as Trick**_

His petulant huff hit her with the force of a hurricane's winds making landfall. And they weren't even in the same room. Beckett yanked the phone clear of her ear with a louder-than-intended bark of his name, the remaining few in the precinct suddenly at attention. With obvious and misplaced irritation, she waved them off like flies at a picnic and pulled the phone back in. "Are you quite through?" she asked into the quiet hum of dead air.

"But you said-" he chirped, before her voice interjected.

"I asked if you were through, Castle," her words full of expected answer.

Silence.

And then came his "Yes, I'm through" with a conspicuous pout of defeat. "Am I at least going to see you before it isn't Halloween anymore?" His mother went to a lavish costume party with a fellow acting teacher, his daughter was off doing whatever it was college students did for Halloween, and he was alone at the loft, in costume, waiting.

"Look, Castle," her tone suddenly softer, "I'm sorry this is taking so long. I really thought I'd be there by now." She knew how much he enjoyed this holiday, as silly as it was for a man of his age, and how much he was looking forward to it. He spent most of his time with her earlier in the day talking her ear off about how much she was going to love his costume, while she spent most of that time shushing him. "I promise you that I will be there soon. And, Castle, I promise that I'll make this up to you."

She ended the call before he could say anything at all. Odd, she thought, how saying that she'd make it up to him made her want to do just that- immediately. She blushed slightly at the power he now had over her heart, mind, and body, and she turned off her computer monitor without any further consideration of work.

Her coat was draped over Castle's chair, and as she grabbed it and her messenger bag in hand to leave, her mind flashed to a Halloween party of recent past to which she wore a similar piece. With a glance around the bullpen and a grin, she stepped into the ladies' room and emerged moments later with her coat secured from top to bottom and a bag weighted with the day's shed ensemble.

She made her way to the loft with calculated haste, she herself now unexpectedly excited about the minutes of Halloween that remained. Eduardo welcomed her to the building with a compliment, as always, and she offered thanks as she breezed quickly past to the waiting elevator. She fidgeted with the buttons of her coat on the ride up both out of exhilaration and nervousness given what was underneath- and what wasn't- and she stepped, at last, through the sliding doors, the click of her heels echoing throughout the hall.

She knocked on his door. She didn't have to, she had a key. But she knocked. More fun that way. More _something_ that way.

She eyed him head to toe and toe to head when he opened for her. And she swallowed because she needed a moment to remember how to speak. "You look…wow," finally tumbled from her still mouth. No tuxedo, on any man, ever again, would ever come close.

"I told you that you'd love it," he trumpeted, full of self-satisfaction as he backed up and let her make her way inside.

At that very second, she wanted his mouth on hers so badly that she could already feel her lips tingling.

"Yeah, well, hard to find a woman that doesn't love James Bond, right?" she chuckled awkwardly. She had no idea what words she was even saying anymore. She certainly wasn't thinking before she said them.

"Oh, well, I'll certainly remember that for the future- _note to self: buy more gadgets_- but I'm not actually dressed as Mr. Bond this evening."

She was confused, naturally. He was, after all, wearing _that_. Confused was the very tip of the iceberg of what she was. "I'm sorry, Castle. I just thought…Who are you dressed as then?" she asked, her brow crinkled.

"Well," he grinned, "I thought you might enjoy a little preview so…." He spun around slowly and with a cocky air. "I dressed as wedding day Richard Castle."

Her eyes drank him in thoroughly, yet again, and she made no attempt to mask it. "You-" was all she could manage. She dropped her bag to the floor with a thud.

"I wish you could have been here to dress up too. Sometimes it's fun, ya know," he lamented. "But, I'll go change and then we can head to bed. I'm sure you're exhausted." He turned and made it but one step.

"Hey," she called out flirtatiously. "Would I get any Halloween points for dressing down instead?" Her fingers began working at the buttons at her neck.

"What are you…" he began, as her fingers continued down the middle of her body. "Oh, yeah, very funny. I already fell for that one once," his mind flashing back very clearly to that Halloween night years ago. That cruel night. That he still thought about.

She reached the bottom button and stood before him, moving nothing but her eyebrows which crept upward in _what are you waiting for? _fashion.

He waited and watched and then he stepped forward because Richard Castle hated to be wrong. Maybe.

His fingers began at her neck and inched slowly down her skin until, at her clavicle, he pulled the coat slowly, painfully slowly, to the right and across her breast. His eyes locked on hers as he then maneuvered the fabric over her bare shoulder and down her arm.

"Wedding day Richard Castle, I'd like you to meet wedding night Katherine Beckett," she uttered and she was on him.


End file.
